Seoul draws fire for snubbing compensation for colonial-era laborers

SEOUL, Aug. 14 (Yonhap) -- Seoul is unwilling to ask Tokyo for overdue payments
owed to Korean workers forcibly drafted to serve Japan's colonial regime, court
documents showed Friday, saying the issue was settled more than 40 years ago.

Historical records have shown that Japan drafted hundreds of thousands of Koreans
to work at coal mines and military facilities or to serve as sex slaves in and
outside of Japan in the later years of its 1910-45 colonial occupation of the
peninsula.
In a recent document submitted to the Seoul Administrative Court, the foreign
ministry cited difficulty "in helping draftees seek compensation for overdue
payments dating to the colonial era as it is clear that such payments were
included in money given from Japan in 1965."
The document was delivered in response to a legal complaint by a former draftee
filed against the government, arguing that its compensation policy towards forced
laborers was flawed.
South Korea normalized diplomatic ties with Japan through a 1965 accord with the
signing of a treaty on basic relations and supplementary agreements involving
property claims, fishing rights, the legal rights of Koreans in Japan and
economic cooperation.
The accord, however, has been a stumbling block for South Koreans seeking
compensation from the Japanese government for its colonial rule of the peninsula.

The Japanese government frequently cites the accord, under which it insists it
paid US$500 million to Seoul and satisfied all compensation claims. Most of the
money was put towards the development of South Korean steel companies.
Seoul has maintained an ambiguous position on the issue for some time.
In 2005, the government launched a joint state-private committee to look into
past relations between the two countries soon after it declassified documents
showing the process of diplomatic normalization.
While the government has stated that justice regarding Japan's past crimes has
not been served and that it has the moral responsibility to see that it is, it
also maintains that the money it received in 1965 takes into consideration
comprehensive issues, including compensation of forced laborers.
"I think there will be more complaints filed against the government," said Kim
Chang-rok, a law professor at Kyungpook National University, as the government
appears to be neglecting views regarding the state's moral obligations as
suggested by the committee.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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